Do you still listen to cassettes?

Yes! I have found hard to find titles at the Goodwill dirt cheap, clean copies! Play quality varies according to the mastering. I have no complaint about tape "hiss" nor that this is a miserable end user format. I can get decent sound from a good tape, and when played on my Nakamichi 480. (it's only a two head model) The Dolby B tracks well for most tapes.. again no complaint. I have found by uploading to Audacity, a good pre-recorded cassette (especially Capitol XDR, and other later copies) will produce into the 14,000 Hz range easily. (17k is about their limit for the best of the best in the world of pre-recorded tape) My band back up tapes on Maxell MXS Metal tapes PLAY (the original reels do not because of sticky-shed) and are showing me a full bandwidth to 20kHz. I am not getting azimuth drift on them either (amazing) Cassettes do not replace my records nor my CD's... it's just another format to find interesting titles.

 

I occasionally listen to weird stuff I find on bandcamp or discogs and these weird stuff artists only have the funds for putting their music out on cassette, so yes I have maybe 100 cassettes.

 

Getting the most out of your cassette tapes, especially in creating a digital file:

The handling and play of cassettes is really no different than reel to reel. The stuff the pros do can benefit the end user.

To get the most out of a cassette tape that was recorded on another recorder, the play head must be adjusted to the tape. The tape may be a commercially pre-recorded tape, or a home recorded copy. This may seem to be a pain, and it is.. One of the causes of Dolby B sounding "muddy" is misalignment of the PLAY head to the tape. Alignment is not done by an alignment tape. (perhaps only the track alignment but not the azimuth)

Alignment to the tape is done by playing the tape. Alignment will be different for every tape. (sometimes the same by chance) Real world alignments have tolerance, and it's not a perfect world. So, for this, I use my Sony TC-WE-475 (not into making any frequent adjustments to my Nakamichi) I have found the Sony as good sounding, decent heads and quiet electronics.. (but DOES require shielding of the power switch to get rid of a -70dB hum) It is expendable and easily replaced. The downside is that frequent adjustment of azimuth can "wear" the adjustment screw threads, eventually making adjustment clumsy and less accurate.

The azimuth adjustment is very easy to do by ear, in mono mode.. no measuring equipment needed, no VU meters. Simply adjust for max high frequency response in mono mode and you're done... but only for that tape. Switch back to "stereo" and enjoy!

 

I have a 20-year old truck with a tape deck, and we only use it for "truck stuff" (trash runs, picking up furniture, etc), so I don't care enough to replace the factory head unit with even a cheap CD player. I also still have about 40-50 tapes from the 80s and early 90s, so they live in the truck now.

 

A bunch were stored in a damp basement and...

 

No...and I'm glad not to anymore. The only thing cassettes ever had going for them was portability and I put up with them until CD-R came along (I even dove into Minidisc to get away from them but the format, while sounding really good, didn't last as we all know). Anyway, all my cassettes are long gone and I'll never buy another.

Ed

 

Nothing I miss about them. Absolutely nothing.

 

I still have about 400 but I don't listen to them.

 

Like many, I did in the 70s thru 00s....Then my deck stopped and I trashed it, should have kept it and tried to DIY fix it. It was an Akai GX-F31 which was excellent sounding deck. I still have all my cassettes, probably 200 or so plus another 100 of dubbed vinyl and some FM broadcasts.

I would love to acquire a deck, but seems all there is are low end or $1000+ Naks......so yea.

 

There is currently only one tape mechanism still being manufactured and all manufactures of tape decks are using it. It's incredibly cheap and awful-sounding. If you must have a tape deck, your best bet is eBay.

Ed

 

Thanks......been lookin around past month or two. Oaktree has some rebuilt nice decks but man $600-$700.

 

i have two boxes full of cassettes containing many albums i dont have on any other format. i stopped playing them when my Sony tape deck went kaputt. i considered getting the new tape deck but between spinning records ,cds and streaming. Nah.

 

Yes, always have, just like records and videotapes. I don't see a reason to change a good format every time something new is invented.

 

Probably just needs a service and a couple of new belts. Like your car, for instance. Still many techs around who will do that. Refreshed, the sound will likely come as a pleasant surprise.

 

My only two issues I have are A. people charging a lot of money for a pre-owned tape when they're much cheaper in other places and B. I can't find decent equipment that doesn't magically need maintenance after two months.

 

yes, but are they listening and recording you?

Of the pre-recorded tapes, I thought the Digilog sounded the best.

 

oops, digalog

 

Cassettes are a crap-shoot for decent fidelity. I didn't mention in my previous comment, as I am paying 50 cents to a dollar at the thrift, my rejection rate is high. Clean cassettes are a lower risk, but still most of these will have some kind of magnetic damage, drop outs, or fidelity loss.
They are so prone to damage, like records.. cuz most people didn't care for their tapes very well at all. Most users never demagged a head in their lifetime. Many didn't clean the heads often enough. Tapes were subjected to poor storage conditions, and even rough handling on a cheap tape machine.
The lowly cassette CAN sound decent when everything goes right. The player must be decent, such as Pioneer, Nakamichi, Luxman, Revox, and some of the better Sony players.

Good techs are hard to come by. Too many are self taught mechanically inclined but lose it in their hands (poor workmanship) The standards held for factory quality is not the same standard for themselves. Just watch a you tube video. Most of these guys will say "ah look.. it's all original and unmolested" Then they (most) proceed to molest it! The sins range from zip tied replacement filter caps, cold solder, scorched boards/ wires, and "rigging it". Head knowledge is fine, but it shouldn't get lost between the cerebrum and the hands.. and most of all the double standard on quality work! If it's not as good as factory, then it's not good enough!

I have purchased refurb'd turntable botch jobs, and a nice Revox G-36 tube recorder said to be meticulously restored by a former Revox tech. The thing was BUTCHERED! One channel would not record, Play level was low on the Rt channel. The incorrect guide was installed (from Revox A-77) a roller guide the seller said was an upgrade. That seemed fine by me, however this roller guide compressed on the G-36 stud.. was not a workable swap. My tape was partially creased by the guide... so the seller never noticed this? The seller agreed to ship the original guide (I left no feedback) and did the full resto myself.. brakes, everything mechanical and electronic, lined it up. It ran beautifully (the tube sockets needed cleaning.. common sense stuff any decent tech would do)

I am not surprised you can not find a decent used cassette recorder that "magically" runs as it should after two months of use. The tech who does a good job puts in far more time than the value of the device. Bad work keeps hurts the tech who should be getting many times the return, than current market. Reel to reel also suffers... beware of the refurbished deck! Reputable restorers are few!

 

Loved them until recordable CD-R's came out.

 

I actually think I've had more luck from thrift stores and flea markets when it comes to cassettes. Some are well loved but don't suffer from too many dropouts. If a tape looks kind of beaten up, I stay away. Also, I tried servicing my own Sony RX-77ES with a belt job. Got the belts done, but now it won't eject. I think I'd be better off finding a good workhorse deck, mint in box, even though they're hard to find. If I found a Technics RS-B12 or something along the lines of that, new in box, I'd take a gamble on it. They're just too big of a risk to buy online to me.

 

That is false. Multiple different mechanism are still being made, with very few parts in common between them. The ones used by TEAC and TASCAM in their decks are much better than those use in cheap boomboxes, as this video explains and demonstrates, including audio samples so you can judge for yourself whether or not it's "awful-sounding":

 

I have a sudden yearning for a fat TV

I rescued a Denon DRM-555 from the trash. I like it cuz it works.
Not sure if Denon makes any cassette decks anymore...

 

Didn't know about the Tascam. No clue they were still making cassette decks. My bad. What other mechanisms are made besides this one and the one that ends up in everything else? I'm interested.

Ed

 

Check with the repair techs over at tapeheads.net, look thru the classifieds or just post a "wanted to buy." One nice thing about buying from a reputable tech is that work has been done correctly.

Good luck.

M~

 

I had a few tapes for the car back in the 80s and 90s, but had sold them all long ago - long before I was into anything resembling quality audio. About a year or so ago, I picked up matching Nakamichi BX-100s at Goodwill a couple of weeks apart for $4.99 each. Replaced the Idler tires and belts for about $20 on each, plus some cleaning. All told, a ~$50 investment in the equipment. I've had good luck finding tapes in the thrifts as well. I do get the occasional reject, but you can tell relatively easily if the tape is good or not. But it's not hard to find some top notch titles.

My experience with cassettes so far is basically the same as with every other media; well mastered music on quality equipment sounds fantastic. Weak links in the chain will diminish the experience. Damaged media is going to cause audio problems.

The main issue with cassettes is that the player needs more regular maintenance than other equipment. Oh, and a big one - most tapes don't need to use Dolby NR on a good system. It usually just makes the sound worse in my experience.